At the end of school what do you want to do?
- I want to do my Senior Certificate.
After your Senior Certificate what do you want to do?
- I want to go to college.
After college what do you want to do?
- I want to get a job.
Then what do you want to do?
- I want to make big money.
What do you want to do after making money?
- I want to build a big house.
After that what do you intend to do?
- I want to get married.
What will you do after getting married?
- I will have a family.
What will you do after having a family?
- I will retire.
What do you want to do after you retire?
- I want to take a rest.
What will you do after taking a rest?
- I don’t know.
Will you die?
- Oh yes, I will die too.

In that conversation the student answering those
questions had to be reminded that he would die. His main preoccupation was with all the things he would do during life. He didn’t seem to spare a thought for the fact that one day
he will have to depart this life. We
could say he was living for the present, with no thought about the present life
disappearing. Many people would admit that
they were so busy in the early part of their lives that they had not much time
for God. They were busy building up their careers or busy with so many
other things that their spiritual lives were not high in their list of
priorities. But as time went by
they began to realize more and more that life here is passing, that we are only
passing through, and that the purpose of life is, as we learned in school, to
know, love and serve God. That is
why many people become more prayerful and spiritual as they grow older. They can see that life is short and goes
by very quickly. One person said to
me that when he passed the age of fifty he felt life was going by so quickly
that there were two Christmases every year! We all know the first commandment, “I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before
me.” (Ex 20:2-3) For many people it takes
half a lifetime to see that they had in fact false gods and God was losing out. I will never forget an anonymous note
left on my desk at the break during one of my Scripture courses. In it the
person said he/she had been
wasting life before attending my course. We are familiar with the saying, “Life begins at forty.”
Our spiritual life
does not begin at forty since we were baptized as infants and we are sons and daughters of
God since baptism. Let
us not waste our lives by losing out on the most important of all, friendship
with God. Jesus said in the Gospel today,

“See that you are dressed for action and
have your lamps lit. Be like men
waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the
door as soon as he comes and knocks. Happy
those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.” (Luke 12:35-37)

Let us not take half a lifetime
to get dressed for action with our lamps lit. Let us not waste life. Let us wait for the master to return from the
wedding feast and be ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks.

It is not popular in this country now to be dressed for
Jesus and with our lamps lit for Jesus. It
is not popular to wait for Jesus, to open
the door as soon as he comes and knocks. It is almost as if the country has become like Peter in the courtyard
of the high priest on the night Jesus was captured. Peter denied he knew Jesus and went so
far as to curse. Is Ireland denying
that it knows Jesus? Our spiritual life
does not begin at forty since we were baptized as infants and we are sons and daughters of
God since baptism. Let
us not waste our lives by losing out on the most important of all, friendship
with God. Let us not take half a lifetime before we live the first commandment. Jesus
said in the Gospel today,

“See that you are dressed for action and
have your lamps lit. Be like men
waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the
door as soon as he comes and knocks. Happy
those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.” (Luke 12:35-37)